1. In November the balance of power changes. Republicans win the majority in both chambers, and win the Governor’s seat. Then a repeal process can begin.

2. The new bill will be challenged in court by any number of possible plaintiffs. Take your pick from the big list. ACLU, Online Retailers, A consortium of retailers and citizens, or other organizations. Eventually it gets shut down through the legal process.

3. the original “Amazon Tax” in New York gets to the Supreme Court of the US and gets overturned by another correct nexus ruling, and all other similar bills (including ours in Co) get reversed due to the ruling. We would be just lucky if it included the Colorado bill in this case, but it is a possibility.

Democrats all across the nation are feeling empowered right now after the passage of the health care act, and in many states they are ignoring the constitution of the United States and taking the law into their own hands. We have to vote all these democrats out of power everywhere to have any hope of saving our industry. These people want to take the entire nation down. Citizens who stand up and vote are the only hope, and in my case, I am also praying as well.

It really is a shame. This bill would do more harm than good.

If there are any local residents that have been affected by this I would like to hear from you regarding a story I am working on regarding this tax.

I can be reached at jackminor@comcast.net of feel free to call me at 970-302-3470.

Thanks,

Jack Minor

If Colorado misses just one company, then that can be and should be exploited by Amazon.com and every other company that is being asked to do this.

Not that Colorado has any teeth outside the state.

Besides that, in November all Colorado residents have an option. We can vote these people out of office who are willing to make such laws, and vote in people who will repeal these laws. I am going to our neighborhood caucus tonight to pick candidates to run. We all need to do this not only in Colorado but across the entire nation or we may not have a country left after these democrats get done making bad laws.

When our tax law passed I had my own feeling of dread thinking about what could happen. If only the entire national business community would opt to ban sales to Colorado residents, then we would get tons of support from all sectors of the population. I could not venture a guess as to what some 200 top retailers will do, and then there are the other 800 we never mention (or more).

I suppose some will never pay any attention to it and will be surprised when the state comes knocking!

For starters, it’s not just collecting the state’s sales tax amount. It also requires retailers to collect all of the county, city, and local taxes in each area, based on the consumer’s address. This means there are over 400 taxing authorities to track just in CO. And each one must be paid quarterly, and each one has the right to audit the retailer. That leaves each online retailer vulnerable to 400 audits a year. Could your employer handle the risk of 400 audits each year right now from each state you sell to?

It’s not just a simple matter of placing the software into the system. This takes people to manage it, cut the checks and mail them, deal with tax changes, questions about which rate affects what addreses, etc. It’s VERY cumbersome. This could incapacitate some smaller merchants. Brick and mortar stores base their tax rates on the store’s location, not the customer’s home address, so the online tax version is much more complicated.

If the merchant doesn’t want to collect the tax, then they have to keep track of all purchases made online by Colorado residents, and notify those residents by Jan 31 of the following year about the sales tax owed to CO. In addition, those merchants must provide the state with a list of your online purchases, so the state can make sure you paid those taxes when you file your income tax. This is loaded with privacy concerns.

Affiliates are not the basis for nexus (relationship) required by law to collect tax. This Colorado law actually violates a US Supreme Court decision, so this will go through the court system and cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in future legal fees. Amazon is still required to either collect or track the taxes on purchases made by Colorado residents, whether they work with CO affiliates or not.

Amazon has already stated that they are willing to collect a national tax, but dealing with hundreds of taxing authorities in each state is not something they are willing to do. I can’t blame them. A national tax would be so much easier for everyone to comply with.

Frankly, I’m surprised any out-of-state retailer is still willing to sell to Colorado residents. We don’t have that much value as a state, compared to larger states like New York or California, and our new tax law is so demanding that I don’t think we’re worth the retail revenue.

There are other ways to collect this tax, but the state wasn’t willing to step up and pressure citizens to pay the taxes they owe. Instead the governor and legislators were willing to bully the out-of-state retailers to do so, so that the online companies look bad rather than the state government.

Oh, and concerning the timing issue, the governor signed the bill at the end of Feb with a March 1 implentation date. Amazon didn’t have any warning, so they couldn’t give affiliates any warning either.

Remember all this when you vote in November.

I don’t disagree with what Colorado is doing, though. They wouldn’t implement this tax law if we didn’t NEED it. I work for a Colorado-based company and we collect sales tax for any order shipping to our lovely home state of Colorado. It isn’t hard, and I don’t believe it is a big enough tax to be detrimental to our sales. It would be interesting to see what would happen if we got rid of the tax all together and did some A/B testing with regards to conversion rate. I guess Colorado residents are just trained to pay sales tax to Colorado-based companies. And I don’t think we mind! Brick and mortar stores have been doing this for years in all states!

All in all, I believe a federal-level tax that blankets all 50 states would completely alleviate this problem. It would be equal across the board, and everyone would continue to make money. I would love to see this tax LOWERED, though. Maybe down to 1.9%.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

I’m a little late to the conversation here, but when I read the constitution I thought this meant states were prohibited to tax across state lines. Or has this been debated adnauseum and someone has given the reason our HB1193 isn’t in violation of the United States Constitution?

Overstock.com done this yet?

Any other affiliates been affected?